I’m sorry!!!!! For real, it’s been forever since I last posted and I feel terrible about it. However, I started back at school this week and I actually have stuff to post about other than weird Starbucks customers and homeless people. (Although I have had plenty of encounters with both - trust me.) Anyhow since I last posted Christmas happened, my friend Charlotte came to town, I got sick, and most importantly I booked a plane ticket home! I’ll start with Charlotte’s visit first.
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| Delicious Falafel! |
Char came to visit on the 28th and I managed to take the bus to the airport and pick her up without getting lost! I was quite proud of myself for that. I ended up staying with her at a hotel in Flushing and we took the train to and from Manhattan. By the way if you come to visit, don’t stay in Flushing. The only cool part about Flushing is that you can see where the US Open is played. (This might not be anything exciting for people who are not tennis fans…) I don’t remember exactly what we did but I will try to recap anyhow. On the first day that she was here we went to the Upper East Side to visit the MET (which by the way was amazing as always), we grabbed lunch at a local diner, and then walked through Central Park afterwards. I think that day we also went and saw “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” but I can’t be sure, we also went to a tapas bar (Spanish food which is fun to tell people about because they ALWAYS think you said topless :-\ ). After the tapas bar we went to see Times Square and the Christmas tree while they were lit up at night. The next day we went into Manhattan, first to 59th street to visit Dylan’s Candy Bar, where I found these shirts that Lauren needs to own immediately:
After the candy bar we went into the Times Square area to do some shopping. I warned Charlotte that it would be packed (after all this was only a couple of days before New Years) but we went anyway and were astounded to see just how crazy it was. After braving a couple of stores we walked over to Bryant Park, where there happens to be a branch of the library. I pretty much fell in love right away. The building is enormous and beautiful and it’s filled with books and history. Can it really get better than that? The answer is no. After some more walking around we went to Brooklyn to get some pizza. I should point out that after being quite warm it had gotten very cold this day. It was somewhere around 27 degrees when we got to the pizza place, which had a line half a block long. Charlotte questioned whether this pizza would be worth the hour long wait, but after I assured her that it was, she agreed to wait. And after an hour in the cold and not being able to feel our toes, we got inside and had the most delicious pizza in the world. (I would say it’s an exaggeration, but I truly believe this.) After pizza we walked down to the water to see the awesome view of the city skyline at night and then trekked back into Manhattan to go see a comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade. If you are ever in the city I really recommend going to the UCB. It’s only five bucks and it’s always funny, no matter what show you’re seeing. On Charlotte’s last day in the city we ventured into Chelsea (an area in Manhattan) to see my school and the Flatiron building. We then walked around to find a place to eat lunch and stumbled upon a Mediterranean restaurant that had a falafel pita on the menu, so we of course went in. The restaurant was kind of fancy but super reasonable. It was about 12 bucks for the falafel and fries; and it was delicious! (I just had to google it, but it’s called Barbounia.) After lunch we walked a block down to Crumbs Bake Shop and got a cupcake for later. I got a peppermint hot chocolate one and it was pretty good. After a quick visit to my favorite Barnes and Noble (aka a four story one), I rode the train with Charlotte back into Queens so that she could catch her flight back home. I had a great time having a friend visit, but I have to admit that being a tourist is exhausting. I was glad to get back to my normal routine.
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| Peppermint hot chocolate cupcake |
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| The Library! |
Alright, onto school. This weekend we made puff pastry. I’ve kind of been dreading it because it’s a laminated dough, like the croissants, so it involves a lot of rolling the dough out and doing “double turns” and other fun things. I was worried that I would end up messing it up like I did my croissants. Well guess what? Turns out I’m pretty good at laminating dough / making puff pastry! I was pretty excited when I had no trouble rolling out the dough to the length of the table. We also got to use a “sheeter” on Sunday which was pretty neat since it rolls out the dough for you. I don’t remember what else we did, but here are some pictures. Wait! We also made stroudel! It was crazy, we had to stretch this little amount of dough into a huge sheet. OK, now here are the pictures:
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Post Stretching
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| Stroudel pre-stretching |
oh my gosh i love this post! and yes, telling people you went to a tapas bar *always* elicits a "you went WHERE??" from the listener. My family went to one in grand rapids and every time my parents have told someone at church, the person hearing the story makes the most priceless face :) so excited to see you...NEXT WEEKEND!!
ReplyDeleteWell you certainly made up for your long absence with this post. First let me say that it would take me a week, with frequent naps, to do all the things you listed doing with your friend. I must be getting old.:>( It sounds so fun though. I never thought I would want to visit NYC but you may change my mind with all your talk of the MET and comedy clubs and falafel pitas. The photo of the falafel looks so good, if it would keep I would have you bring me one! What was that about being sick? I hope you are feeling better! By the way, your stories of crazy people and homeless customers at Starbucks are always blog worthy.
ReplyDeleteThe pastry looks fabulous. SOme day I'm replacing these darn tile countertops with marble and then you need to come over and show us how to make puff pastry. That apple tart looks amazing! It drew a gasp from your uncle when he saw it:>) I CAN"T WAIT TIL YOU COME HOME!